Valid arrival
——2021 short story creation "keywords"
Text/Xu Fuwei
How to accurately cut into the observation of short story creation in 2021, I think starting from the key words is an effective way. The study of literature with keywords has long existed. The history of the development of Modern and Contemporary Chinese literature is actually connected with key words, such as vernacular literature, Beijing school, Shanghai school, left-wing literature, seventeen years of literature, Cultural Revolution literature, and later scars, roots-seeking, reflection, pioneers, neo-realism, realism shockwave, etc. This provides a good perspective and platform for ordinary readers to interpret contemporary literature, and can grasp and dig deep into the essence of literature through complex literary appearances.
Looking at the creation of short stories in 2021, it is not difficult for us to find key words - world map writing, looking back at the fathers, the post-factory era, human to twilight, animal narrative/ecological civilization, marine literature, watch tradition, midlife crisis, frontier others, new world, red narrative, city and people, science fiction reality, new chivalry, which can effectively reflect the overall creative style and outstanding characteristics.
First, the world map writing
With the strength of China's comprehensive national strength, our cultural self-confidence is getting stronger and stronger. Reflected in literary creation, it is manifested in the fact that more and more Chinese writers are trying to break through the original literary geographical space and try to use an international perspective to re-tell the stories of Chinese studying, living, working and even exploring around the world. This wave of writing, which began in 2018, began with a series of novels published by Qiu Huadong Chinese exploring overseas, conquering peaks and oceans, such as "The Shadow of the Eagle" and "Crocodile Hunter", which ushered in an explosive period in 2021 and has become spectacular. Qiu Huadong's "Hippo Massage Therapist", Zhu Shanpo's "Sahel Wasteland", "Farewell, Manina", "Somali Camel", Sheng Ke's "The Man Pushing the Stroller", Yu Feng's "Canary Dive Point", Yang Yifen's "Lisbon Pill", Zheng Xiaodonkey's "Edge of the Volcano", Ye Linzhi's "Isfahan Flying Carpet", Yang Fang's "Australian Uncle", Tang Ying's "The Tree Grows Old in the Tree" are all representative works of this wave. This wave of writing on the world map focuses on telling the stories of Chinese in the world that are integrated into the international society, which is different from the narrative of traditional literature that is limited to the field of Western society, but further extends the writing map to Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and even Africa, and the image of The Chinese tough guy has also appeared in terms of character shaping. Zhu Shanpo's 2021 novel creation is the most representative, and the above three articles all point to the African story of aiding African doctors. "Hippo The Masseuse" is also an important work in the African narrative, telling the legendary story of Chinese traditional Chinese medicine in opening a clinic in Africa and becoming a hippo masseuse due to marriage setbacks, full of poetry and warmth. "Isfahan Flying Carpet" will be a narrative perspective deep into the land of Central Asia, Shuai Kui experienced the double blow of marriage and career, came to the hinterland of Central Asia, hoping to find a new starting point in life, did not expect to be involved in a series of changes, but still longed for a free soul. "Canary Dive Site" is another masterpiece in the Yufeng series of diving novels, telling the story of Chinese Xiaotao and Japanese fellow window Toshiyo diving in the Philippine Sea and salvaging treasures. "Lisbon Maru" chooses to cut into the story from the perspective of the harm of war to ordinary people, and thinks about the paradox of war and human nature in the international context of the United States, Britain, and Japan. In the cross-narrative between China and Australia in the past half century, "Uncle Australia" reflects the development of Chinese society and the ups and downs of life destiny, implying the proposition of the great era of China's rising. "The Tree Grows Old in the Tree" directly shattered the Chinese hypocritical American dream. Through the above works, it is not difficult to find that the writing ambitions of Chinese writers are rising, and the courage to construct the geographical space of world literature is already available, but the myth of the Western center is increasingly dissolving in literature, replaced by writing with a broader horizon, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, etc., are included in our writing map.
Second, look back at your fathers
There is always a father-son conflict in the classic motifs of traditional literature, and the plot of killing the father and marrying the mother in "Oedipus King" pushes the narrative of the father-son contradiction to the extreme. In fact, in addition to the contradictions between fathers and children, it is more about the integration and mutual hope of family affection. Looking at the 2021 novellas, it is not difficult to find that there is a theme line running through them to look back at their parents. Of course, the paternal generation referred to here is expanded, including grandfathers, mothers, uncles, uncles and other elderly relatives. In the theme line of looking back at the father's generation, some are showing bitter family memories and pain points, such as Song Xiaozi's "The Glory of the Uncle" tells the tragic story of the original family debts and obligations borne by a generation of rural intellectual youth after entering the city. Uncle not only has to consider his own family's foothold in the city, but also delusionally wants to save the entire rural family by himself. It is true that this is also the expectation of the entire rural family, and feels that this is the heavy responsibility that the uncle who lives in the big city should shoulder, and in the end, the uncle ends up in a mental hospital, which is lamentable. Zhi Ah Wei is a young writer with remarkable creative achievements and a unique writing style in the past two years, and has made breakthroughs in the content and skills of short story creation. From "Broken Grandfather" in 2020 to "Ukiyo" in 2021, there are too many bitter family memories, but they are cleverly stacked by him with scattered narrative details into a superb work, which can be called a highly skilled text craftsman. Kim In-shun's "Mr. Ono" Mr. Nakano came to northeast China as a historian to explore the traces of his father's year, full of remorse and remorse for the family's shameful past. Young writers Yang Zhihan, Liang Baoxing, and Jiang Zai are also powerful factions that cannot be ignored in recent years. Yang Zhihan's "Out of the Apprentice" in 2020 to the "Story King", "Over the Hall Wind" and "Water Flooding blue bridge" in 2021 are all remarkable, especially "Over the Hall Wind" inherits the theme of "Out of the Apprentice", and continues to write the bitter memories of the family, with simple brushwork and deep feelings. Liang Baoxing's "Insomnia" tells the story of "I", as a son, to find the hometown and life of my father who has been insomnia for a long time, with mature techniques and quite philosophical thoughts. Jiang Zai's "Waiting for the Wind to Come" tells the story of the girl waiting for her father to return and fly a kite, implying the family's sad past. Some look back at their fathers in order to dissolve the authority inherent in their fathers, such as Yuzhen's "Daddy's Drinking Days" and Luo Zhiyuan's "Boxer". These two young writers, one who portrayed the image of the alcoholic father and the other who portrayed the uncle who saved face in the rainstorm of military gymnastics, both reconstructed the image of the father in the deconstruction of the authority of the father. Ma Xiaotao's "More Interesting Things" completes the reconstruction of his father's generation in a light and humorous narration. Some look back at their fathers for the reconciliation of the relationship between father and son (daughter), such as Di Qing's "White Affairs Society" focusing on the heartwarming emotions between father and son, which is touching. The daughter in Guo Shuang's "Norwegian Maple" repairs the tension with her father on the one hand, and on the other hand, realizes the healing and healing of her own emotions through her trip to Russia with her father. Xiao Kefan's "Mother Doesn't Tell Me" is undoubtedly one of the major achievements in the creation of novellas in 2021. The novel cuts from the exploration of the mother's tainted history to the review of the mother's life course, thus revealing a beautiful, resolute, brave, and humiliating mother with typical oriental human feelings. Xue Yifeng's "Hometown" enters the scene where his father once worked and lived in the narration, thus reaching a reconciliation with the present. Liu Jiandong's "The First Platform" and "Rare Audience" are also conceived.
Third, the post-factory era
Mentioning factory literature cannot fail to mention Jiang Zilong and Xiao Kefan, two literary predecessors, Jiang Zilong's "Qiao Factory Director's 1st Record" set a precedent for reforming literature, and Xiao Kefan was obsessed with singing for the working class. In recent years, the three musketeers of Tiexi (Shuang Xuetao, Ban Yu, and Zheng Zhi) have emerged in recent years, focusing on the joys and sorrows of industrial workers under the background of the end of the large-scale industrial era, showing the social and historical changes in the post-factory era and the ups and downs of the fate of the characters, which is quite representative. However, this creative phenomenon is limited to the northeast and Tianjin, and has not been produced nationwide. The good news is that in the creation of novellas in 2021, more and more writers, especially young writers, have begun to dabble in this genre and conduct their own unique observations and reflections in the form of looking back at their parents. Cai Jun's "Spring Night Funeral" and Hou Lei's "Daughter of the Textile Factory" are among the best. "Spring Night Funeral" focuses on the spiritual pain of the workers in Shanghai's post-industrial era, restores a vivid memory of the Shanghai factory, and leaves a strong mark for the Literature of the Shanghai Factory. As an international metropolis, Shanghai is not only a ten-mile ocean field, petty bourgeoisie, but also a lot of people in the factory. "The Daughter of the Textile Factory" shapes the image of Haiyan, a retired textile worker in Beijing, and outlines the fireworks atmosphere of Beijing City in the era of large-scale industry, thus shaping the "spiritual Beijing". Different from the factory literature of Cai Jun and Hou Lei, Li Tie is a writer who came from the era of large industry, and the "Handicraft" written by Li Tie directly cuts into the narrative scene of history in a positive and aggressive way, showing the silence and unwillingness of craftsmen in the post-factory era, in a sense, the craftsmanship transcends reality. It is not difficult to find that as a traditional industrial center, the factory literature of the three eastern provinces, Tianjin, Beijing and Shanghai represented by Shenyang has been followed by people in the new era, and has been continuously given new era connotations.
Fourth, people reach their twilight years
With the intensification of China's social aging, more and more writers have begun to pay attention to this field and continue to introduce excellent works. In 2018, Zhou Daxin's novel "The Sky Is Dark Slowly" is the most prominent masterpiece. The creation of short and medium stories in 2021 is also more involved in this genre and shows a multi-layered aesthetic dimension. Some are concerned about the plight of the elderly after entering the city and the plight of the spirit. In the text, such elderly people occupy a large proportion, they originally lived in the countryside or in small towns, and in order to take care of their grandchildren, they had to leave their hometowns and enter a strange urban life. Conflicts with the lifestyles of their children, at odds with urban life, and even communication barriers due to accents plague them all the time. They are trapped in a deep spiritual predicament but have no way to tell, and they are forced to re-learn and adapt to the urban lifestyle in their twilight years, which is really difficult for them. Xiao Jianghong's "Southern Accent" is the most typical work in this genre. The novel uses the contradiction between the dialect of the elderly who have entered the city and Mandarin to show the dilemma encountered by this group in urban life. In Li Ximin's "Monster", jincheng's grandfather encountered a misunderstanding from his grandchildren, and almost caused a fire in the whole building because of the memorial to his deceased wife. The marriage of the elderly is also one of the main themes of contemporary fiction. Fang Wei followed "Little Taoran" and created "Old Taoran", Wang Shu's "Little Fire", and Wen Zhen's "Sometimes the Rain Falls on the Square", all of which involve twilight love and reveal the spiritual pain of the elderly who have nowhere to put it. Li Shijiang's "Old Bones" is known as the Chinese version of "The Old Man and the Sea", writing about the process of self-help in the face of life and death, and writing about the greatness of human spiritual perseverance. Chen Rong's "Lao Tzu Forgot..." reveals the health dilemma faced by the elderly and the strength to not obey the old. Zhong Qiushi's "Father's Long River" focuses on the mental pain of the elderly with Alzheimer's syndrome. Qiu Shanshan from "Cao Dewan Goes Out to Find Love" to "I Need to Talk to You", involving a lot of elderly themes, and in 2021, "Road Meets Road" was launched, which is about the essence of reconciliation between retired elderly people and past youth years, which makes people feel warm to read.
5. Animal Narrative/Ecological Civilization
With the increasingly severe ecological crisis, the promotion of ecological civilization, the value concept system of anthropocentrism has been unanimously condemned and condemned by people around the world, and ecocentrism has begun to receive people's attention and favor. In such a global historical and cultural context, the creators began to pay great attention to the living conditions of animals themselves, carry forward the value and meaning of animal life, and introduced animal ecology and behavior, trying to restore the image of animals to their original appearance, and the understanding of people and animals, people and nature is becoming more and more profound, with a strong sense of environmental protection and ecological ethics, and exalting the spirit of ecological care, so as to lead the focus of attention from people themselves, people and society to a broader world in a broader ecological vision. It has also formed the theme of ecological care for ecological reflection on people and the world. Black Crane is obsessed with the writing of animal narratives, and in 2021 published two animal novels in "Grassland" in a row, "Hangen Nuohai" and "Bear Dog". The novel narrates the love-hate relationship of animals and the virtuous circle of harmonious coexistence with humans in a grand ecological care vision. The most prominent texts in 2021 are Shen Nian's "That Night" and Pan Ling's "Taiping Youxiang". In "That Night", the life transformation of Lu Houyi, a famous hunter in the Dongting Lake Area, from "Bird Hunting King" to the rescue of the White Crane is a metaphor for the pulse of the great historical trend of China's ecological civilization from awakening to prosperity. "Taiping Youxiang" takes the relocation of a village several times as the starting point and finds a way for people and animals, and between people and nature. Zhang Wei's "Endless Streams of Love" and Black Child's "The Sun is Too Far" are all involved in this theme, making a unique textual presentation of the relationship between humans and animals. Yu Yiming's "Lake and Yuanqi Lian" is written in the ecological restoration of Danyang Lake, which is also in line with the narrative theme of ecological civilization.
6. Maritime literature
Traditional Chinese culture, rooted in agrarian civilization, influences Chinese's way of life, mode of production, inertia of thinking, and even the belief system of Chinese. Its role in literature, vernacular literature has a far-reaching influence, once occupied half of the literary world. However, in recent years, with the gradual awakening of Chinese marine awareness, the value and significance of the ocean have increasingly attracted the attention of the people. Reflected in literature, the writing of marine literature has formed a creative trend. In this creative trend, young writer Lin Sen's novella with the theme of the ocean is quite eye-catching. From "On the Shore of the Sea" in 2018 to "Only Water Young" in 2021, they all face the changes in social history, and in the contradiction and conflict between tradition and modernity, father and son, the willpower of the water-only young will to go to the ocean is literarily expressed. In Qingdao, in the yellow sea, there is also a writer who writes about the ocean, Azhan. In the 2020 novella "A Story Full of Loads", there are rich marine knowledge such as fish and ocean currents, and the image of the ocean tough guy full of loads is also created. Although the 2021 "Ink Pond" does not write directly about the ocean, it is spread by the calligraphy stories of the Huanghai family. Whether in the South China Sea or the Yellow Sea, these two writers from the south and the north echo each other, exploring the important influence of marine civilization on social and historical changes and the hearts of the people of the world, and then creating literary masterpieces that belong to the unique genealogy of the marine spirit. Qingdao writer Zhang Yi's Sailor Knot, which also belongs to the Yellow Sea, focuses on the group of sailors in ocean-going operations and can also be included in this genealogical investigation.
7. Watching the Tradition
Traditional culture silently nurtures the creation of contemporary writers, and even determines the height and depth of contemporary writers' writing in a certain sense. On the one hand, contemporary writers continue to draw nourishment from traditional culture, and on the other hand, they take the inheritance of traditional culture as their responsibility and pay tribute to traditional culture. In the creation of short stories in 2021, Wen Qingli has more consciousness of traditional cultural inheritance, and has turned her attention to Kunqu opera, a master of traditional culture, and created novellas such as "Zi Yan Hong Kai", "Jin Tang Dao", "Qisan Spring Benefits No One Sees", all of which use Kunqu art to tell contemporary social life, life is like drama, drama is like life. In the process of reading, readers will be unconsciously brought into the traditional culture of Kunqu opera, and their hearts will be baptized, thus loving traditional culture even more. However, "Stepping on the White Boat" involves Jiaxing folk dance, which clearly presents the tragic life of ordinary people in the observation field of traditional culture. Zhu Xiao's "Nanyin" feels the eternal artistic charm of the increasingly demise Nanyin in the intersection narrative of history and reality. Si Jidong's "Passing on the Lamp" and Ah Zhan's "Mochi Ji" are both related to calligraphy culture, using calligraphy to interpret the rise and fall of personnel. Sun Pin's "Heavenly Objects" is a tribute to history and culture, shaping the character image of Lao Yuan, the defender of cultural relics. Ge Liang's "Tile Cat" refers to the culture of craftsmen, and in the recounting of Mr. Zhu of the Southwest United University, the cultural context of the traditional skill of tile cat making is outlined.
Midlife crisis
Midlife crisis refers to a state of life that people face after middle age, such as the decline of their internal physical fitness, psychological and emotional tension and anxiety, and the old and young in the external family, and the bottlenecks in work. Among contemporary literary works, Chen Rong's novella "Man to Middle Age", published in 1980, can be called a masterpiece. In 2021, Liang Hong, Ma Jinlian, Junting, Ban Yu, Sun Rui, Liaojing and other writers have all touched on this theme. Liang Hong's "Erosion" and "Quiet Fog" are all related to the emotional crisis of marriage among middle-aged people. Yang Yousheng in "Erosion" is middle-aged, his career has not been accomplished, and in contrast, in the first half of his life, even love and marriage are chips used to exchange the so-called bright future, and now he can only get drunk all day long to escape reality. Although Ding Mingya in "Quiet Mist" is committed to raping his own man, he cannot really get rid of the pain of being hurt, and people can only avoid the atonement of their husbands by self-harm in middle age. Ma Jinlian's "Falling Flowers Hutong" focuses on the WeChat classmate group of middle-aged people, and in order to satisfy vanity, Ma Xiaohua does not hesitate to package herself as a rich and noble person in the classmate group, in order to deceive people to the identity of middle-aged street sweepers. Junting's "Hu Accountant on the Atlantic" presents the sister-brother love in the workplace and the unbearable bloodiness of middle-aged women's psychology in front of the reader's eyes. Ban Yu's "Slow Step" and Sun Rui's "Stand-in" focus on the relationship between father and daughter and father and son in the family, and the happiness of family affection temporarily conceals the sad atmosphere of the midlife crisis. Liaojing's "Nowhere to Escape" pushes the reality of middle-aged men's nowhere to escape to the extreme of the narrative. It is not difficult to find that throughout the literary narrative of the mid-life crisis in 2021, the protagonists have all chosen to flee, escape from reality, and hide in the illusion of self-unity, but how difficult it is.
9. Frontier Others
Because the frontier in the geographical sense is far from the center, it always gives people a difficult sense of space and a sense of distance that is unattainable, and its economy, society and culture have relative independence and closure, and its deep psychological and cultural structure also has a certain heterogeneity. Correspondingly, the creation of frontier customs and personnel as the narrative center also provides us with a valuable perspective of others to comprehensively look at contemporary society. The frontier narrative in the 2021 novella presents a national character with a unique aesthetic character. Helgena's "The Sea of Basang", "Releasing Horses", "Green Grass and Wind and Sand", and Na RenGaowa's "Horse Carrying souls" describe the vastness and vastness of the grasslands of Inner Mongolia. Among them, Hellergena's creative perspective is more broad, and the transformation of the spatial field from the grassland to the sea and the depth of the international human vision of "The Sea of Basang" deserve our attention. Lü Yangming's "Camel Hotel" writes about the business history of Chinese and Russian merchants in this field of Northeast Manchuria. Tao Liqun's "Wine at Dusk" still tells the legendary story of the small town of Mona on the border between China and Vietnam. Yi Rong's "Jade Lion" focuses on the Xinjiang region. Tsering Rob's Legend of the Fire pit of Varca uses folklore to connect the history and reality of the frontier. Fan Yiping's Shangling Village narrative series has a far-reaching impact on the literary world, and in 2021, it has added new members, such as "Golden Teeth", "Spending Money", "Supervision War", etc., all focusing on the bright light of humanity highlighted by Zhuangxiang people in secular survival. The frontier writing of young writer Ding Yan is quite profound, from "Home with Grain" to "Dusty Lamp" to "Red Dust Burning Heart", all of which are related to the love and hate in the unique regional cultural background such as ethnicity and religion, presenting a unique "this one" in literary creation. The kaleidoscopic rural life of Chudi written by young writer Zheng Xiaodonkey's "Falling Ceiling" is not a frontier, but it is also a relatively independent cultural system. In summary, the frontier narrative as the other presents a unique local cultural and ethnographic distinctive feature, but the "human physical" involved in it is unchanged throughout the ages, and it is an eternal human emotion that transcends regional and national culture.
10. The New World
The theme of world love is one of the most common genres in the history of Chinese novels, focusing on writing folk secular life and human physical physics, with a small view of the big, "extremely imitating the differences between human feelings and the world, and preparing to write about the joys and sorrows". The New World Situation specifically refers to novels with a new era of life atmosphere that involves ordinary living beings such as men and women in food and drink, family humanities, etc. with strong aesthetic tastes of citizens. 2021 can be described as the year of the collection of new world love novel creation, three generations of old, middle-aged and young writers compete on the same stage, each showing their own ability, showing a state of a hundred flowers blooming and a hundred schools of thought contending. Feng Jicai, Tie Ning, Fan Xiaoqing, Ning Ken, Yin Xueyun, Hu Xuewen, Ai Wei, Pan Xiangli, Zhu Hui, Lao Teng, Xu Yigua, Yi Zhou, Zhang Chu, Lu Min, Qiao Ye, Huang Yongmei, Ye Mi, Hu Xianfeng, Shi Yifeng, Fang Wei, Yang Yingchuan, Zhang Yiwei, Tang Chengnan, Zhang Tianyi, Li Chao, Zheng Zaihuan, Liang Hao, Zhou Lili, etc. have all come out with new works. In this narrative trend, Pan Xiangli's series of works such as "Old Love", "Lotus Ginger", "The Aroma of Water Lilies" and so on are quite eye-catching, and 2021 can be called the year of Pan Xiangli's short stories, which takes the international metropolis of Shanghai as the narrative background and narrates the various emotional entanglements of the human world in the context of the new century, warm and plain, and interesting. Fan Xiaoqing's novel creation has always maintained a relationship with the same frequency resonance of the times, and "Butterfly Flying" published in 2021 focuses on education issues, directly attacks the shortcomings of the times, and is thought-provoking. Xu Yigua's "Attachment to the Marriage and Divorce of Mingji Xiaoguo" is a very short story, with small hits, with emails, invitations, news reports, instructions, meeting minutes, etc. to promote the development of the storyline, revealing the social and environmental issues that have been obscured. Ning Ken's "Novelist's Inn", Yin Xueyun's "Wooden Wind Chimes", Hu Xuewen's "South", Li Hao's "Story Cafe" on Snow Mountain Road, Yi Zhou's "Waterfall Gatekeeper" and "Swinging Drum Tower", Zhang Chu's "Several Nouns Related to Guo Yongli", Huang Yongmei's "Bluetooth", Shi Yifeng's "Half Face", these novels with Lijiang stories as the same theme have many highlights, creating a new height in the writing of novels with the same title, which have been published by the Hundred Flowers Literary and Art Publishing House as "Lijiang Story Collection". This is a fiery collision between the ancient city of Lijiang and contemporary literature, creating a warm atmosphere of life between the mountains and waters, history and reality of Lijiang. Hu Xian's "Tiger in the Stone" deals with the restless daily life of people's inner tiger-like desires, which have a strong sense of reality criticism. Yang Yingchuan's "In Taoyuan" writes ruthless and affectionate, exploring the value and significance of forgiveness and letting go of the world. Fang Wei's "Fitness Beast" and Ah Yuan's "A Lunch with Miss Gu" continue to describe the living conditions of the intellectual community in colleges and universities, which can be called the contemporary version of "Ru Lin's Foreign History". Zeng Jian's "Introduction to Mercy" contemplates the emotional entanglement between the red dust and the pure world, cuts into the narrative with family history, and constructs a strange aesthetic world in the conflict between birth and entry, with distinct modern philosophical implications. Zhu Hui's "The Twenty-Eighth Day of February" is a rare short story masterpiece, which sets the protagonist as a habitual thief who has just been released from prison, and after falling in love with a beautiful female neighbor, he constructs an emotional tension space for peeping and being spied on. Wang Zhanhei's novella "Wei Daotian" focuses on the group of courier brothers who seek to survive in the cracks of the city, and writes about the goodness and tenacity in human nature. Regardless of the specific theme of the above works, they are essentially rich in human fireworks. It is this common breath that brings readers an artistic aesthetic space of common pain and empathy in their hearts, so that readers can cherish the life in front of them more in analogy and association, love and love, hate and hate.
11. Red Narrative
There is no shortage of red narrative traditions in Chinese literature, which is deeply related to the Chinese nation's concept of "home-country isomorphism". The most typical works are "Red Flag Spectrum", "Red Rock", and "Red Sun", which determines the aesthetic paradigm of red narrative in contemporary Chinese literature. Since entering the new era, the red narrative has made great progress, and the connotation of the concept has been continuously deepened and the extension has been continuously expanded. In particular, 2019 is the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and 2021 is the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, and a large number of excellent red narrative works have emerged around these two important time nodes. As far as 2021 is concerned, Zhu Xiuhai's "A Red Rose", Hai Fei's "Suzhou River", Tao Chun's "Seven Aunts and Eight Aunts", Wang Yuebin's "Arrow Pine", Xi Yuan's "Sheng" and "Southward", Liu Pengyan's "My Grandmother's Code Name L", and Li Yongsheng's "Iron Horse Autumn Wind" are among the best, telling the story of the domestic revolutionary struggle and the war against Japan, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and the battle stories on the front-to-face enemy battlefield and the hidden front. "My Grandmother's Code Name L" has made a breakthrough in the creation of art forms, and the names used by Grandma as an underground party to carry out her tasks are Liu Yunbin, Du Manquan, Three Misses, Old L, etc., which connects the ups and downs of Grandma's life for revolution and faith, which is awe-inspiring to read. "Iron Horse Autumn Wind" has sincere feelings, focusing on the unswerving comradeship between cavalry and war horses, and tells the story of the heroic resistance of the "Iron Horse Autumn Wind" combination. "Vaulting Horse" in the road chooses to tell the story of anti-Japanese resistance from the perspective of children, which is unique. The above works are undoubtedly the main part of the red narrative, but we may wish to expand their scope a little, such as Lu Yingmo's "Navigator", Shi Zhongshan's "The Last Position" and Dong Xiaqing's "Permafrost Observation Section" can also be included in this narrative genealogy for investigation. "Navigator" focuses on the narrative at the exact time of the flag-raising ceremony of the Chinese Navy walking out of the first island chain, showing the style of the Chinese Navy's mighty division in the face of danger. "Permafrost Observation Section" brings the narrative time closer and closer, with the border conflict events that occur on the current plateau as the narrative center, and adopts the narrative method of combining dots and lines to tell the lofty character and fearless sacrifice spirit of the officers and soldiers in the new era. It can be said that this is the earliest and fastest work in contemporary literature to cut into this major event. From this point of view, we cannot but admire Dong Xia Qingqing's keen narrative ability and the literary responsibility and responsibility of setting up a monument for the officers and men of Shubian, which is undoubtedly a work worthy of our respect and admiration, and is also one of the important harvests of military novel creation in the new era.
XII. The City and the People
With the acceleration of China's urbanization process, urban literature has attracted more and more attention and has the potential to replace local literature. This also illustrates the arrival of a huge transition period in Chinese society, that is, the march from local China to modern China. Writers living in the city will invisibly be immersed and edified by urban culture, but at the same time they have a clear consciousness and the value position of independent criticism by intellectuals, and incorporate the city into their own literary observation and creation, thus forming an aesthetic contrast between the city and people. Such as Lao She and Beijing, Feng Jicai and Tianjin, Wang Anyi and Shanghai, etc. Ning Ken's novel creation in recent years is all about the city of Beijing, especially in 2021, he published "Blue Peony" and "Black Bird", writing about the glimmer of human nature in the chaotic era of Beijing City, and opening up a new aesthetic art space between the city and people. Wang Haohu's "Spring water and Elephants at Midnight" also takes beijing city as a narrative field, cutting from the daily life of the city into the legendary narrative, thus constructing a hundred years of Beijing city history. Wang Song's works also present a distinct aesthetic contrast between the city and people, with Tianjin City as the narrative field, folk customs and five elements and eight works are jumping on the paper. From the 2019 novella "Spring Scene" to the 2021 novella "Lihualou" has distinct Tianjin characteristics, the old city of Tianjin has a new look under Wang Song's pen. As a modern international metropolis, Writers such as Deng Yiguang, Wu Jun, and Cai Dong have used it as the narrative center and created a large number of excellent novel texts. Deng Yiguang's "Take You to see the Light Show" cleverly set up two middle-aged couples to show off each other's plot conflict, Shenzhen's middle-aged couples had a natural advantage, did not expect to eventually lose to Luoyang couple, because Luoyang couple with demolition money to Shenzhen to buy a large mansion. The novel is not only a comparison of the living conditions between two couples, but also focuses on social realities such as urban development, demolition, and medical ethics. Cai Dong's "Daylight Illuminates the Beidou" focuses on the troubles caused by young people working hard in Shenzhen in order to rent even a house with only a little sunshine, and is related to urban and youth issues, which is quite realistic and targeted.
Looking at the creation of short stories in 2021, in addition to the twelve keywords mentioned above, it is enough to attract our attention to the two keywords of science fiction reality and new martial arts. Zhang Chu, Chen Qifan, Hao Jingfang, Han Songluo, Li Tang, etc. all have new works of science fiction. Chen Qifan's "Yan Luo Algorithm" pays attention to the actual living conditions of people under science and technology, and has a strong humanistic care and vigilance significance for science and technology. Hao Jingfang's "2050 Killings" focuses on high-tech killings. Han Songluo's "My Father's Whimsical House" focuses on the embedding, occupation and expansion of architecture on human life. Li Tang's "Shadow Trainer" uses shadow trainers to cut into a critique of real society. Zhang Chu's Jupiter Night Talk focuses on the problem of parallel worlds. These works are cleverly conceived and novel in perspective, which shows the efforts of Chinese writers to "reach the world in a more local way". In order to better cut into the real society, Xu Haofeng, Cheng Yongxin, Wang Fangchen, Shuang Xuetao and other writers have thrown themselves into the new martial arts narrative, which is quite eye-catching. Xu Haofeng has always adhered to the traditional context of martial arts narrative and developed a new aesthetic paradigm on this basis. Cheng Yongxin's "Records of Mount Qingcheng" is about martial arts and Taoism, conveying the eternity of human nature, Wang Fangchen's "Fengqi Wu" has the charm of a hidden hero, and Shuang Xuetao's "Assassin Lover" narrates the legend of contemporary chivalry in the old murder case.
(Author Affilications: Editorial Board of Novel Monthly)
Published in Literature and Art Forum, No. 2, 2022
Editor: Deng Jiefeng
Second instance: Liu Ya
Third trial: Chen Tao, Wang Yang